Main menu

You are here

H.R. 1299, White Sands Missile Range Security Enhancement Act

As ordered reported by the House Committee on Natural Resources on May 15, 2013

H.R. 1299 would require the Secretary of the Interior to transfer administrative jurisdiction over 5,100 acres of land in New Mexico to the Secretary of the Army. Those lands would be used by the Army for military purposes. Based on information provided by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), CBO estimates that implementing the legislation would have no significant impact on the federal budget. Enacting H.R. 1299 would reduce offsetting receipts, which are treated as reductions in direct spending; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. However, CBO estimates that any net reduction in offsetting receipts would be negligible.

Because the affected lands are currently used for cattle grazing and no alternative grazing lands are available in the area near those lands, CBO expects that enacting H.R. 1299 would require BLM to terminate existing grazing contracts. Based on information provided by the agency, CBO estimates that terminating those contracts would reduce offsetting receipts by less than $1,000 a year over the 2014-2023 period.

In addition, because the affected lands are already managed by the federal government, we estimate that implementing the legislation would not affect the costs of managing the lands. Finally, CBO estimates that any additional costs to prepare the legal description of the affected lands, as required under the bill, would total less than $10,000, subject to the availability of appropriated funds.

H.R. 1299 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments.